diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 65a44bbc919..22a17ed8172 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -307,6 +307,9 @@ Release 2.0.3-alpha - Unreleased
     HADOOP-8791. Fix rm command documentation to indicte it deletes
     files and not directories. (Jing Zhao via suresh)
 
+    HADOOP-8616. ViewFS configuration requires a trailing slash. (Sandy Ryza
+    via atm)
+
 Release 2.0.2-alpha - 2012-09-07 
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ChRootedFileSystem.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ChRootedFileSystem.java
index 95d0a2d456a..b3acf506f6a 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ChRootedFileSystem.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ChRootedFileSystem.java
@@ -89,7 +89,11 @@ class ChRootedFileSystem extends FilterFileSystem {
   public ChRootedFileSystem(final URI uri, Configuration conf)
       throws IOException {
     super(FileSystem.get(uri, conf));
-    chRootPathPart = new Path(uri.getPath());
+    String pathString = uri.getPath();
+    if (pathString.isEmpty()) {
+      pathString = "/";
+    }
+    chRootPathPart = new Path(pathString);
     chRootPathPartString = chRootPathPart.toUri().getPath();
     myUri = uri;
     workingDir = getHomeDirectory();
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ViewFs.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ViewFs.java
index 130ff976f16..a8a77bec5d0 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ViewFs.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/ViewFs.java
@@ -205,9 +205,13 @@ public class ViewFs extends AbstractFileSystem {
       protected
       AbstractFileSystem getTargetFileSystem(final URI uri)
         throws URISyntaxException, UnsupportedFileSystemException {
+          String pathString = uri.getPath();
+          if (pathString.isEmpty()) {
+            pathString = "/";
+          }
           return new ChRootedFs(
               AbstractFileSystem.createFileSystem(uri, config),
-              new Path(uri.getPath()));
+              new Path(pathString));
       }
 
       @Override
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/TestChRootedFileSystem.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/TestChRootedFileSystem.java
index e990b92465f..35e2cb7649c 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/TestChRootedFileSystem.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/viewfs/TestChRootedFileSystem.java
@@ -342,6 +342,15 @@ public class TestChRootedFileSystem {
     chrootFs.close();
     verify(mockFs).delete(eq(rawPath), eq(true));
   }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void testURIEmptyPath() throws IOException {
+    Configuration conf = new Configuration();
+    conf.setClass("fs.mockfs.impl", MockFileSystem.class, FileSystem.class);
+
+    URI chrootUri = URI.create("mockfs://foo");
+    new ChRootedFileSystem(chrootUri, conf);
+  }
 
   static class MockFileSystem extends FilterFileSystem {
     MockFileSystem() {